How to Create an Energy-Efficient Sustainable Business

Welcome back Katie Brenneman who has patiently waited for me to publish her posting as I have been fighting COVID-19. This time Katie has taken on the topic of sustainable business practices throughout a company’s operations looking at the entire supply chain. If you are not familiar with Katie’s past contributions you can type her name in the Search Window on the Menu Bar and find her work. She likes to write about lifestyle, mental wellness, and sustainability. Please feel free to comment on any of her postings and let me know what you think.

As companies continue to tinker with their business models in light of rising energy costs and the need to address environmental sustainability concerns, they are looking at every aspect of operations including supply chains. Becoming more energy efficient is, therefore, top of mind. Luckily, there are many different ways businesses can reduce energy usage and actively participate in climate change mitigation. And being more sustainable looks good from a public perspective.

The Importance of Saving Energy and How To Get Started

There are many reasons to consider energy-saving strategies as a business priority. Today, many industries are excessive energy users with manufacturing, in particular, using the largest share. The problem is that much of that energy involves burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gasses into the air. 

Going greener isn’t just beneficial to the business it also has an impact on the health of your employees and customers. Cleaner air means a reduction in exposure to gasses and particulate matter that contribute to chronic illness and impacts mental well-being.

And if the business is customer-facing, sustainability and environmental actions can boost the bottom line for two reasons.

1. Consumers are more concerned about the environment than ever before, and they are more likely to do business with companies that share their concerns.
2. Businesses that actively care about environmental issues create a corporate culture of sustainability and employees buy into it building loyalty and retention.

Get Some Help

The most effective way to move to a sustainability model is to gain expertise by hiring someone with environmental credentials. An environmental sustainability manager looks at every nook and cranny of a business and determines where there is room for improvement. They develop iterative processes to design new solutions and refine them. 

Using Technology to Develop Sustainable Practices

Choosing the right technology and tools leads to improved energy efficiencies. Remaining current in terms of the technology being used will produce some of those efficiencies because new machines on the shop floor are being built by suppliers who implement sustainability and energy conservation in their products today. So pay attention to the carbon footprint of the technology the company gets from suppliers. Even devices like forklifts have eco-friendly alternatives today.

Old company computers often use more energy because they are loaded with redundant software and files. Computers draw more energy to complete simple tasks if they are not optimized. So take the time to go through the inventory of desktop and laptop computers the company uses and remove unnecessary data and programs. Archive old emails, eliminate data duplication, compress files using tools such as an online PDF compressor, and as result, reduce the energy used and system space requirements to operate the business. 

Teach remote workers about implementing best sustainability practices. While a business cannot control everything done on the outside, putting guidelines in place for off-site workers and suppliers conserves energy. Discourage the use of unnecessary electronics. Instead of printing on paper, create a paperless environment. Use emails and text instead of words on paper. Have employees upload their files to the cloud which gives them access to anything they need at a moment’s notice while minimizing the company’s local energy consumption.

Take Lessons From Companies Applying Best Sustainability Practices

There is a growing sustainable technology ecosystem out there from which a company can draw expertise. Take advantage of technological innovations such as:

• Long-term battery storage — Many businesses have turned to Lithium-ion batteries for short-term storage needs, but when it comes to long-term, opt for more energy-efficient thermal batteries, or in Google X’s case, molten salt-powered batteries to supplement energy needs. 
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS) — If a company uses plastic in its packaging, there are now alternatives that incorporate and permanently sequester captured carbon. Businesses should see a lot more CCS product choices in the next few years.

• Solar power — If the business has a flat roof, or sufficient acreage such as parking around it, solar panels can serve to reduce the energy used that comes from the grid. There are plenty of government incentives, such as the ones recently enacted in the American Inflation Reduction Act, that provide tax breaks to cover implementation costs. And energy surpluses produced through renewable solar can be sold back to the local utility further reducing costs.
  

Other Energy Savings

Once a business has targeted the energy-wasting culprits in its operations, the low-hanging fruit, it can then look for further reductions such as replacing reduce current incandescent and fluorescent lighting with LEDs. LEDs are brighter and last longer even though they have a higher per-unit cost. But operationally they last far longer and contribute to cost reductions. And where internal lighting is used, instruct employees to turn off the lights when they leave or implement automatic shut-off sensors to save even more energy.

Not enough companies take advantage of natural light. One of the reasons Daylight Savings Time was implemented decades ago was premised based on giving businesses more hours of natural light. A business, however, can situate desks and work areas near windows so employees don’t need to turn on artificial lighting. Natural light doesn’t just save costs, it contributes to greater employee productivity and well-being.

Monitor how heating and cooling are used. Unless products require a hotter or colder temperature, keep thermostats at reasonable temperatures to lower energy costs. During the day maintain comfortable working temperatures. But at night if the building is not being used, implement climate controls to save energy use. 

There are many ways a business can make smart and sustainable adjustments today to be conscientious environmental stewards. In this article, I hope we’ve touched on many strategies your business can consider if you haven’t already. Help the business and help the planet. That’s what sustainability is all about.